It's the end of an era: Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan are officially done with the Masked Manhunter.

If you've been waiting with bated breath for an announcement that Warner Bros. has secured Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan for yet another Batman film, you should give up now. Bale has just announced that he and Nolan are officially finished with Batman, ending the longest actor/director team-up when it comes to live-action adaptations of the character.

Speaking to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Bale talked about how he won't be playing the character any longer, now that The Dark Knight Rises is finished:

"I wrapped a few days ago so that will be the last time I'm taking that cowl off. I believe the whole production wrapped yesterday, so it's all done. Everything's finished. It's me and Chris - that will be the end of that Batman era."

This news isn't exactly surprising, since unofficial rumors that Bale and Nolan would be moving on after The Dark Knight Rises have been circling for a while. However, it's not entirely certain what's in the future for Batman, though more rumors point at Warner Bros. rebooting the character so the company can make another stab at laying the groundwork for Justice League film franchise, in spite of the colossal failure that was Green Lantern.

Actually, I would most certainly disagree with the notion that Begins and TDK were better than Burton's two films. At least when it comes to Batman Returns, which I still hold as the most thematically substantial adaptation. It juggled biblical retribution and third-wave feminism with BDSM fetishism, among other things. Top that!Nolan might be an immaculate craftsman (an incredibly skilled such, no question), but I never thought his work held much in terms of actual content.

OT: Eh, Bale could pull off the slimy socialite, but his Batman really was lacking. That voice was just silly.Now Conroy, there's a Batman whose laughter was more intimidating than any of Bale's guttural blather.

I was always under the impression that this would be the last Nolan/Bale Batman so this comes as no surprise. To be honest, I would have been perfectly happy if they stopped at the second. Those are some pretty big shoes to fill.

I think he could have done a good take on Robin if he used Jason Todd as Robin.

You mean the Robin nobody liked?

Anyway, its moot. Nolan has said repeatedly he will never ever put Robin in his movies.

LiquidGrape:Actually, I would most certainly disagree with the notion that Begins and TDK were better than Burton's two films. At least when it comes to Batman Returns, which I still hold as the most thematically substantial adaptation. It juggled biblical retribution and third-wave feminism with BDSM fetishism, among other things. Top that!

None of the other movies had the dialogue "Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it. But a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it". All the other Batman movies win. Yes, even Batman and Robin. Say what you will about Freeze puns, they didn't mangle dialogue like that.

I'll miss Nolan, but his Batman movies were great in spite of Christian Bale. Yeah, Bale's Batman voice is just really that bad. It makes me want to cringe through every one of his scenes as Batman. He's fine when he's Bruce Wayne, though.

Yay! Bale is now free to do intelligent movies again! Sally forth Bale and act me up something to re-watch 800 times again like The Machinist and The Prestige, and never take one of these brainless roles ever again! Hell, I'd prefer another Reign Of Fire to another Shatman!

LiquidGrape:Actually, I would most certainly disagree with the notion that Begins and TDK were better than Burton's two films. At least when it comes to Batman Returns, which I still hold as the most thematically substantial adaptation. It juggled biblical retribution and third-wave feminism with BDSM fetishism, among other things. Top that!

None of the other movies had the dialogue "Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it. But a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it". All the other Batman movies win. Yes, even Batman and Robin. Say what you will about Freeze puns, they didn't mangle dialogue like that.

Well...I don't see how "Let's kick some ice!" is anything but mangling.The worst line in a Batman film, by the way, is definitely Kilmer's "It's the car, right? Chicks dig the car" from Forever.Just...eugh.

Now, as for the line you cite, I don't see the problem. Batman Returns obviously works on a level of heightened realism, and the prosaic elements of its script are in tune with that presentation. I would liken it to Wagnerian opera, in a way, considering its reliance on leitmotifs and thematic exaggerations. It's quite an intertextual piece of entertainment, as well, drawing influence and imagery from many varied sources such as the bible and Shakespeare's comedies of error.

I really do like it, but I can certainly understand if it isn't to everyone's taste. Nolan did manage to render the idea of Batman as a semi-realistic construct quite believable, and that's certainly a feat in and of itself.- I just prefer the more operatic approach to that character.

P.S

On the subject of Returns' leitmotifs, I just have to include this piece of music from the soundtrack.

I absolutely love how it tells you which character is portrayed or alluded to at each particular moment, from Penguin's glockenspiel to Catwoman's strings and Batman's orchestral fanfare. The texture of it all is just gorgeous, I think.

Shame on you for such obvious flame bait, but to hell with it, I'll bite.

Batman does look dated now and even Jack Nicholson's performance doesn't quite hold up as it once did, but Returns is still in my opinion easily the best Batman movie, with amazing visuals, a terrific soundtrack and great actors like Danny DeVito, Christopher Walken and Michelle Pfeiffer giving great performances, and having fun doing so.

I still don't see why so much fuss is made of Nolan's two movies to date. Begins is a typical dull origin movie, and The Dark Knight is massively overrated. It's a well made movie with a couple of great sequences (the opening bank robbery, the convicts on the ferry) and one admittedly incredible performance, but it's not the masterpiece everyone says it is.

Sorry I do not agree, Batman Begins was balls...and if it weren't for The Joker/Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight I wouldn't have paid much attention. Nolans batman offends both my eyes and ears when he's on screen, where as Burtons batman makes me actually think about how cool it would be to be a costumed vigilante. Sorry but Burtons films are leagues ahead of Nolans.

Two-Face is my favorite character and where as I loved the Nolan version he ended up dieing at the end so you basically lost all my interest for any future movies. Your obvious flame bait makes me...want to get nuts.

LiquidGrape:Actually, I would most certainly disagree with the notion that Begins and TDK were better than Burton's two films. At least when it comes to Batman Returns, which I still hold as the most thematically substantial adaptation. It juggled biblical retribution and third-wave feminism with BDSM fetishism, among other things. Top that!

None of the other movies had the dialogue "Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it. But a kiss can be deadlier if you mean it". All the other Batman movies win. Yes, even Batman and Robin. Say what you will about Freeze puns, they didn't mangle dialogue like that.

Well...I don't see how "Let's kick some ice!" is anything but mangling.The worst line in a Batman film, by the way, is definitely Kilmer's "It's the car, right? Chicks dig the car" from Forever.

Not quite. Its not just how unnaturally forced or stupid it is, but also how long it is. Kick some Ice is 3 seconds long. Chicks Dig the Car is 4 seconds long in one movie, and repeated in the next for 6 seconds. That Mistletoe shit is 17 seconds long the first time, and then it actually repeats for another 20 seconds. 37 seconds of pure mangled dialogue in the same movie makes it far far worse than either one of the other examples.

Woodsey:Weren't we told this before The Dark Knight Rises was even announced properly?

"If we do a third film it will definitely be the last."

Vigilantis:where as Burtons batman makes me actually think about how cool it would be to be a costumed vigilante.

I'm not surprised you didn't like it if you went in expecting it to just tell you vigilantes are "cool". That's essentially the complete opposite of the film's intention.

I love how you simplify a part of my message and say "you went in expecting it to just tell you vigilantes are "cool"." I never once said that was my purpose of going to see this movie, I was simply stating that Nolans Batman neither brought out the cool or "Dark Knight" factor as the Burtons Batman did. If you had read the last part of my comment you should have been able to put two and two together and figure out I'm one of those guys who watches Batman movies for the villians story. I honestly hate Batman as a character all around (Superman is better =P ), just stating my opinion that Burtons Batman is far superior.

Batman to me was always the line of good and bad, he had dark traits that he used against other bad guys...Bale couldn't pull that vibe off to save his life where as Keaton just came natural to the role (perhaps it was his beetlejuice experience) If you can't keep interest in the main character the rest of the story falls apart around it. Heath Ledger destroyed Bales performance, and the best parts of the movie (for me) were scenes without Batman in it. When we finally got to the epic conclusion the fight scenes were lackluster (and shite) and my favorite villian died a rather odd death.

Please halt from putting words in other peoples mouths as I would come to expect you to be some sort of internet lawyer. Respect others opinions as they would respect yours.

Does this mean we can end this unnecessary gritty direction and make Batman fun again?I say we cast Jason Bateman as Batman, then he can flub all his lines and say "I'm Bateman!"Or maybe Bader can go from voicing Batman to being Batman...